Hays-Heighe House at HCC to host national exhibition on slavery, emancipation

The Hays-Heighe House at Harford Community College will host Emancipation and Its Legacies, a national traveling exhibition on display through Feb. 25. In conjunction with the exhibit, the Hays-Heighe House is sponsoring free programs and other events for the public.

Developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Emancipation and Its Legacies marks the sesquicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The exhibition is divided into five panels: Conflicting Visions of the Future of the United States: 1850–1860; War and Fugitive Slaves: 1861–1862; 1863: Emancipation; The Process of Emancipation: 1864–1865; and The Legacy of Emancipation: Civil War to Civil Rights, 1865–1964. Drawing on letters, personal accounts, images and other documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, each section traces the major events that led to emancipation.

"We are pleased to have been selected as a site for this exhibition," Iris Leigh Barnes, coordinator for the Hays-Heighe House, said. "Through reproductions of documents, photographs and posters, the exhibition invites visitors to learn about emancipation through the eyes of individuals. Though Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation 150 years ago, people today can still identify with the dreams and hopes of the people freed by that document and the promise it held for them. We hope that this exhibition will help visitors better understand the human history and legacy of freedom and emancipation."

Contact Linda Anthony, 443-412-2539 or lanthony@harford.edu, or visit http://www.harford.edu/library/haysheighehouse for more information.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Its purpose is to tell the story of the struggle for freedom in the United States through exhibits and programs that focus on America's battle to rid itself of the scourge of slavery and treat all its citizens with respect and dignity.

Founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education. The institute has developed an array of programs for schools, teachers and students that operate in all 50 states, including a website that features the more than 60,000 unique historical documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection, http://www.gilderlehrman.org. The Institute's programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Organization of American Historians.